Denmark Greenland In The Twentieth Century

This book traces Danish-Greenlandic relations in the period 1900-2000. The main trend is the development from a colonial situation in 1900 with a state owned company runnig nearly all business to an open economy with steadily growing self-government for Greenland short of full independence. The Danish policy can be described as benevolent, but financially the budget was tight until after the second World War, the philosophy being that Denmark should neither lose nor gain. After the war there was heavy investment to bring Greenland nearer to standards of living comparable to Denmark and substantial subsidies were given make that happen. The Greenlanders attitude towards Denmark developed along lines familiar from other examples of decolonisation. The first phase of accepting the coloniser was long over, now seeking equality with the coloniser was the main aim in their endeavours. From 1911 two provincial councils woiced speaking the Greenlanders views and their political influence steadily grew. In 1953 Greenland got representation in the Danish parliament. The third phase of doing without the coloniser began in the early 1970s when Greenlanders sought home rule status, obtained in 1979. In the following twenty years the Home Rule Authority gradually took over nearly all lawmaking and administration and from 2004 a committee has explored ways of giving Greenland a more independent voice in foreign affairs. In 2003 the ultimate goal was declared to be full independence.

A Short History of Denmark in the 20th Century is a personal introduction to the making of modern Denmark. Written by of one of the country’s most esteemed historians, the book explains the inner workings and international relations of one the most successful modern societies. The narrative is connecting Danish culture from the mid 19th century to the economy, to the construction of the modern welfare society, and to the complex relation between the small Scandinavian kingdom and her neighbors on the European continent and beyond. Bo Lidegaard’s book is written for non-Danes taking an interest in Denmark. But since its first English language edition, it has been translated into Danish to become a renowned national bestseller setting out for contemporary Danes a vision of their own recent past. Before taking up his present position as the editor-in-chief of the leading Danish daily, Politiken, Dr. Lidegaard served as the top foreign policy advisor in the Office of the Danish Prime Minister. He is the author of a number of acclaimed volumes on modern Danish history. His most recent book, Countrymen, on the rescue of the Danish Jews in October 1943, was published by Knopf, New York, in 2013.

This book explores how the Danish authorities governed the colonized population in Greenland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Two competing narratives of colonialism dominate in Greenland as well as Denmark. One narrative portrays the Danish colonial project as ruthless and brutal extraction of a vulnerable indigenousness people; the other narrative emphasizes almost exclusively the benevolent aspects of Danish rule in Greenland. Rather than siding with one of these narratives, this book investigates actual practices of colonial governance in Greenland with an outlook to the extensive international scholarship on colonialism and post-colonialism. The chapters address the intimate connections between the establishment of an ethnographic discourse and the colonial techniques of governance in Greenland. Thereby the book provides important nuances to the understanding of the historical relationship between Denmark and Greenland and links this historical trajectory to the present negotiations of Greenlandic identity.

This book is about Greenland’s rapidly changing role in the world and about it’s complex connections to Denmark, its former colonizer. It is about Greenland’s possible secession from the Kingdom of Denmark, oil, uranium and the difficulties that Greenlanders and Danes often have when they try to talk about their common past and Greenland’s place in the new, global future. The first part of this book builds on my travels and encounters with Greenland’s politicians, fishermen, schoolteachers and intellectuals – including my old classmate from Maniitsoq, who became a very wise vicar in her hometown and now appears in chapter 3. Through all these conversations I learned just how dramatic the present wave of changes in Greenland are. Never before did I understand just how complex the desire for increased independence is, or how dramatic the clashes between old and new are, or how volcanic the debate over which path to choose for the future can be. An insight into these local discussions is surely a prerequisite if one wants to understand the broader discussion about Greenland’s future relations to Denmark and its changing role in the world. The second part deals with hard-core politics – about mining and oil, and about the rest of the world’s – including China’s - interest in Greenland’s oil, gas, uranium, rare earths, gold and other riches. This part of the book grapples with the political in-fights in Greenland and with the power struggles between Denmark and Greenland over resources, foreign policy and identity. Legally, for half a century, Greenland has been part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but also increasingly a very self-conscious one of the sort. My observations flow from my work as a journalist in Greenland and Denmark over the past years, where I worked for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation and other media outlets. I am Danish, I lived only two years in Greenland as a teenager, but I have come there often in later years. My errand is not to forward any opinion on Greenland’s position as a part of the Danish realm, nor do I pass judgment on the popular vision of future secession. If anything, I hope to throw light on the complexities involved and to encourage more people to take part in this important debate by providing detail, real human beings, facts and observations from places that would, for most people outside Greenland, be somewhat cumbersome to reach.

Though it has been home for centuries to indigenous peoples who have mastered its conditions, the Arctic has historically proven to be a difficult region for governments to administer. Extreme temperatures, vast distances, and widely dispersed patterns of settlement have made it impossible for bureaucracies based in far-off capitals to erect and maintain the kind of infrastructure and institutions that they have built elsewhere. As climate change transforms the polar regions, this book seeks to explore how the challenges of governance are developing and being met in Alaska, the Canadian Far North, and Greenland, while also drawing upon lessons from the region's past. Though the experience of each of these jurisdictions is unique, their place within democratic, federal systems and the prominence within each of them of issues relating to the rights of indigenous peoples situates them as part of an identifiably 'North American Arctic.' Today, as this volume shows, their institutions are evolving to address contemporary issues of security, environmental protection, indigenous rights, and economic development.

With the Constitution of 1953, the colonial status of Greenland came to an end, and Greenlanders were granted equal rights as citizens within the Danish realm. In 1954 this new arrangement was supported by the UN General Assembly. The decision to change Greenland's status was conditioned both by internal and external circumstances. In the UN context, Danes increasingly felt the strain of being a colonial power, and they feared the possibility of future UN interference in Greenlandic affairs.

Global warming interacts in multiple ways with ecological and social systems in Northern America. While the US and Canada belong to the world’s largest per capita emitters of greenhouse gases, the Arctic north of the continent as well as the Deep South are already affected by a changing climate. In Cultural Dynamics of Climate Change and the Environment in Northern America academics from various fields such as anthropology, art history, educational studies, cultural studies, environmental science, history, political science, and sociology explore society–nature interactions in – culturally as well as ecologically – one of the most diverse regions of the world. Contributors include: Omer Aijazi, Roland Benedikter, Maxwell T. Boykoff, Eugene Cordero, Martin David, Demetrius Eudell, Michael K. Goodman, Frederic Hanusch, Naotaka Hayashi, Jürgen Heinrichs, Grit Martinez, Antonia Mehnert, Angela G. Mertig, Michael J. Paolisso, Eleonora Rohland, Karin Schürmann, Bernd Sommer, Kenneth M. Sylvester, Anne Marie Todd, Richard Tucker, and Sam White.

This book investigates how the emergence of the Arctic as a new geopolitical arena affects and reshapes the area known as the North Atlantic: Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and coastal Norway. The relationship between the center of the former Danish empire and its subordinates have rested on (varying degrees of) asymmetric power relations, that are intertwined with political as well as emotional bonds. With climate change a whole new reality is emerging in the Arctic and sub-Arctic areas. Power is moving north, and new connections and partnerships are being developed. As the North Atlantic countries share a history as being part of a Danish empire, some of the hierarchies and mindsets inherited from the past still affect the present. This calls for an in-depth understanding of the cultural history of the North Atlantic as well as current relations. What narratives make up the foundation for contemporary cooperation? How are historical relations and narratives being reinterpreted today? How do postcolonial relations affect decision-making concerning natural resources? How do North Atlantic communities envision the future? A team of historians, literary theorists, art historians, ethno - graphers and culture and communication scholars with profound insight into the histories, languages and cultures of the North Atlantic have collaborated on this study of the North Atlantic countries as an emerging new center in the North. Foundations that made this publication possible: Carlsberg Foundation